Apparatus for blast treating articles

ABSTRACT

Shot blasting apparatus comprising a blasting chamber, an inclined rotatable drum in the chamber for holding articles to be shot blasted, and means to raise and lower the drum to enable articles which have been shot blasted to leave the apparatus.

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[54] APPARATUS FQR llLAS'H TREA'WNG [56] Mel'ieremnms Cited AWHQLES UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] invent r: J r-m F- Th m n, L w House rm, 1,656,238 1/1928 Ruemelin ..51/13 Timble, near Otley, Yorkshire, England 3,500,590 3/ I970 De lfiergolaln "SI/1M [22] 1F 1970 Primary Examiner-Lester M. Swingle [21] App]. 2 9 Attorney-Abraham A. Safi HZ STIEMCT 52 us. cu .51/13 Shot blasting apparatus comprising a blasting chamber an [51] lllml. Cl ..]B24c 3/28 i li d rotatable drum in the chamber f r holding articles to [58] Field of Search ..5 1/13, 164; 241/285 A be shot blasted, and means to raise and lower the drum to enable articles which have been shot blasted to leave the apparatus.

& Claims, 11 Drawing Figure APPARATUS FOR BLAST TREATING ARTICLES This invention relates to apparatus for the blast treatment of articles, and has as its object the provision of such apparatus in which the treatment of articles is rendered quicker and more efficient.

Many of the previously proposed shot blasting apparatuses have incorporated baskets (in which the articles to be treated are located) which are removable by hand from the apparatus in order to remove the treated articles or from which the treated articles are removed, the basket itself remaining in situ.

This manual removal of the basket or the manual emptying of the basket is very time-consuming and the invention seeks to obviate this disadvantage by incorporating into a shot blasting apparatus a drum which is raised and lowered by poweroperated means, the raising of the drum enabling articles which have been shot blasted in the drum to leave the apparatus.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a shot blasting apparatus comprising a blasting chamber containing shot blasting tool means and having means to permit access to the interior of the chamber, said chamber containing an inclined drum for receiving articles to be shot blasted, said drum being rotatable with but separable from an inclined plate which forms the bottom of the drum, said drum and said plate being rotatable by means of an electromotor and said drum being separable from said plate by a power-operated means, movement of the drum away from the plate permitting articles on said plate to leave said plate and said blasting chamber.

Preferably, said power-operated means is a pneumatically operated piston-and-cylinder arrangement. The piston of the piston-and-cylinder arrangement is arranged to be secured to a cap located on the upper extremity of the drum, said cap including first roller means adapted to guide the drum during its rotation and second roller means to guide the drum during its movement towards and away from said plate.

In order that the invention may be readily understood, an embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawing which is a front view, partly broken away to show the interior, of a shot blasting apparatus according to the invention.

Referring to the drawing, the shot blasting apparatus comprises a cabinet 2 having a front wall 4, sidewalls 6 and 8, a rear wall 10, a top wall 12 and a bottom wall 14. The front wall 4 includes a door 16 mounted on hinges 18 in order that access to the interior of the cabinet may be had. Said door 16 has a window 26 so that shot blasting may be viewed. The cabinet 2 forms a blasting chamber in which articles are shot blasted.

Mounted within the cabinet 2 is a perforated drum 22 which, in the embodiment of the invention, is of a regular octagonal shape and has its upper extremity reduced to provide a restricted opening. The drum 22 which, as will be seen, is set at an inclination with respect to the vertical, and is mounted on a perforated plate 24. Said plate 24 is rotatable within the blasting chamber by an electromotor 26 through the intermediary ofa gear box 28.

In the position shown in the drawing, the perforated drum 22 is rotatable with the perforated plate 24. A shot blast tool means in the form of a gun 30 is located within the drum 22 the gun 30 is mounted on an articulated bracket 32, adjusting means 34 being provided to vary the position of the gun relative to the drum 22.

The basket or drum 22 is movable towards and away from the perforated plate 24 by means of a pneumatically operated piston-and-cylinder arrangement indicated generally by reference numeral 40. The piston 42 of the arrangement 40 passes through a crosshead 44 and is connected at its free end to a stirrup 46 which carries rollers 48 engaging in a trackway 50 on the drum 22. The rollers 48 and trackway 50 guide the drum 22 during its rotation.

The drum 22 is of a regular octagonal shape and is additionally guided during its movement towards and away from the plate 24 by a plurality of guide rods 51 engaging notches 53. The guide rods Sll are carried by the plate 24.

Also mounted on said stirrup 46 is a second roller means 32 which engages guide tracks 54, the roller means 52 and tracks 54 serving to guide the drum 22 during its movement towards and away from the plate 24 as will be explained later.

Articlesto be treated in the drum 22 are fed into the drum 22 down an entry chute 56 and leave the blasting chamber after being shot blasted in the drum via a chute 58.

Located within the cabinet 2 is a hopper 64) which closes off the blasting chamber and which serves to direct the blasting media passing outwardly from the drum 22 and plate 24 to the base of the cabinet and thence to a recirculating device 62 from which the blasting media passes to cleaning and purifying means (not shown) and thence to the shot blast gun supply source.

Mounted on the sidewall 6 is a control box 64 which contains a control system to automatically sequence the operating cycle of the apparatus.

In operation, articles (not shown) to be shot blasted are fed into the drum 22 along the entry chute 56 and come to rest on the inclined perforated plate 24 from which they are prevented from falling by the drum 22. The control system of the apparatus then starts the electromotor 26 so as to cause rotation of the plate 24 and drum 22. Simultaneously with this rotation, during which the drum is guided by the rollers 46), the blasting media (not shown) is introduced into the drum by means of the shot blasting tool means 3(1) so as to treat the articles within the drum.

When the shot blasting sequence in the operating cycle is completed, the piston 42 of the piston-and-cylinder arrangement 40 is retracted, hence drawing upwardly, away from the plate 24, the drum 22 due to the connection of said piston 42 with the stirrup 46. During its upward movement, the drum 22 is guided by the rollers 52 which also serve as the means to trip a limit switch (not shown) so as to control the amount of upward movement of the drum. The raising of the drum 22 away from the plate 24 enables the articles which have been shot blasted to slide from the table 24 into the chute 53 so as to leave the blasting chamber.

Thereafter, the drum 22 may be lowered onto the plate 24 by the piston-and-cylinder arrangement 40 and the operating cycle repeated.

The media which is directed onto the articles passes through the perforated drum 22 and plate 24 and fall downwardly into the base of the hopper 60 where they are directed, by the recirculating device 62 to the aforesaid cleaning and purifying means.

I claim:

l. A shot blasting apparatus comprising a blasting chamber containing shot blasting tool means and having means to per mit access to the interior of the chamber, said chamber containing an inclined drum for receiving articles to be shot blasted, said drum being rotatable with but separable from an inclined plate which closes the bottom of the drum, said drum and said plate being rotatable by means of an electromotor and said drum being separable from said plate by a poweroperated means, movement of the drum away from the plate permitting articles on said plate to leave said plate and said blasting chamber.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said poweroperated means is a pneumatically operated piston-anccylinder arrangement.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said drum is of a regular polygonal shape and is guided during its movement towards and away from the plate by guide rods which are located in some at least of the corners of said drum.

4. Apparatus according to claim ll, wherein the electromotor drives said drum and said plate through the intermediary of a gearbox.

5. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the piston-andcylinder arrangement engages with a cap on said drum, first roller means being mounted on the cap to guide said drum during its rotation and second roller means to guide the drum during its movement toward and away from said plate.

automatically sequences the operating cycle of the apparatus.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a blasting media receiving hopper located at the bottom of said 5 blasting chamber. 

1. A shot blasting apparatus comprising a blasting chamber containing shot blasting tool means and having means to permit access to the interior of the chamber, said chamber containing an inclined drum for receiving articles to be shot blasted, said drum being rotatable with but separable from an inclined plate which closes the bottom of the drum, said drum and said plate being rotatable by means of an electromotor and said drum being separable from said plate by a power-operated means, movement of the drum away from the plate permitting articles on said plate to leave said plate and said blasting chamber.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, Wherein said power-operated means is a pneumatically operated piston-anc-cylinder arrangement.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said drum is of a regular polygonal shape and is guided during its movement towards and away from the plate by guide rods which are located in some at least of the corners of said drum.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electromotor drives said drum and said plate through the intermediary of a gearbox.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the piston-and-cylinder arrangement engages with a cap on said drum, first roller means being mounted on the cap to guide said drum during its rotation and second roller means to guide the drum during its movement toward and away from said plate.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said blasting chamber comprises a top wall, sidewalls, a rear wall and a front wall, the front wall having a viewing window so that the shot blasting may be viewed.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein one of said sidewalls carries a control box housing a control system which automatically sequences the operating cycle of the apparatus.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a blasting media receiving hopper located at the bottom of said blasting chamber. 